


I'll Stay in the Darkness with You

by WildWolf25



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Dreams and Nightmares, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s02e08 The Blade of Marmora, Established Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, I mean yes a knife gets accidentally involved but no one gets hurt, Knives, M/M, Night Terrors, like it goes from very angsty/sad to very fluff at the end, not physical, that tag makes it sound more angsty than it is..., well the night following it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-08
Updated: 2018-02-08
Packaged: 2019-03-15 11:24:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13612353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WildWolf25/pseuds/WildWolf25
Summary: Shiro knows dreams aren’t prophetic.  Dreams are not premonitions of something to come.  They are just the brain’s way of processing whatever events have happened that day.After the considerable stress that came with hours of life-or-death battles, confronting his mind’s greatest fears, and a rather unsettling revelation about his heritage, it really isn’t that surprising that Shiro wakes up to Keith screaming the night after visiting the Blade of Marmora’s headquarters.  He isn’t surprised, but he had hoped and prayed that this wouldn’t happen.





	I'll Stay in the Darkness with You

**Author's Note:**

> The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out  
> You left me in the dark  
> No dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilight  
> In the shadow of your heart
> 
> I took the stars from our eyes, and then I made a map  
> And knew that somehow I could find my way back  
> Then I heard your heart beating, you were in the darkness too  
> So I stayed in the darkness with you
> 
> ("Cosmic Love" by Florence + the Machine)
> 
> (EDIT: I changed the title)

Shiro knows dreams aren’t prophetic.  The so-called “dream interpretation guides” that just  _ barely  _ qualify to be on the nonfiction shelves of bookstores and libraries are nothing more than pseudoscience wrapped up in a brightly-colored dust jacket and a catchy title.  Dreams are not premonitions of something to come.  They are just the brain’s way of processing whatever events have happened that day.

After the considerable stress that came with hours of life-or-death battles, confronting his mind’s greatest fears, and a rather unsettling revelation about his heritage, it really isn’t that surprising that Shiro wakes up to Keith screaming the night after visiting the Blade of Marmora’s headquarters.  He isn’t surprised, but he had hoped and prayed that this wouldn’t happen.  

“Keith,” Shiro calls his name quietly, not daring to touch him yet.  “Keith, are you awake?”  

Keith thrashes next to him, legs tangling in the blankets.  His eyes are wide open and unseeing, and the way he gasps out a whine and doesn’t reply to Shiro is enough of an answer.  

“Keith,” Shiro sits up in bed, calling his name again in a soft voice that is just loud enough to be heard over the screams.  “Keith, can you hear me?”  

Keith abruptly turns toward the wall and tries to curl up in a ball, but his legs are trapped in the blankets.  “No!  No!”  Keith shouts, hand swatting at the air, pushing away at whatever demon he sees grabbing his legs.  “Don’t--!  No!”  

Shiro leans down and tugs the blankets and sheets with shaking fingers, untangling him as quickly as he can.  He winces as Keith’s fist glances off the side of his head, powerful even as it is uncoordinated.  Keith twists just as Shiro manages to free his legs.  A metallic  _ shiing  _ cuts through the night air and Shiro’s Galra-tech hand snaps up just in time to stop the luxite blade from slashing across his face.  Keith stares at him, wild-eyed and focusing on something over Shiro’s shoulder, the sheath of his knife gripped tight in his other hand.  

“Keith,” Shiro feels his heart break at the way the other man recoils, eyes darting wildly around the room.  “Keith, baby, it’s okay.  I’m here.  It’s Shiro.”

“You’re not him!”  Keith screams, shaking his head.  “ _ You’re not him _ !”  

The image of the hologram version of himself speaking words he would  _ never  _ say flashes through his mind, wrenching at his heart.  “He’s coming, Keith.”  He tells him softly.  “Shiro is coming, I promise.  But you have to put down the knife.”

“I  _ can’t _ !”  Keith gasps, tugging against Shiro’s grip.  “I can’t… I… Dad!   _ Please _ !”  

_ Surrender the blade, and the pain will cease _ … How many times had those words been said to Keith today?  Shiro can’t say them; what he had told Kolivan was right, Keith would  _ never  _ stop fighting, never stop trying to find out where he had come from.  Not even in his sleep.  But Shiro had to get the knife away from him before one or both of them got hurt.  

“Keith,” he called his name again, softening his grip on his wrist without loosening it.  “Keith, listen to my voice.  Just listen, that’s all you have to do.  I’m here, and I’m going to keep you safe, okay?  I’m here, baby…”

Keith hunches in on himself, hiccoughing.  “Sh-Shiro…?”  

“I’m here, Keith, I’m here.”  Shiro tells him, sliding a bit closer.  “Can you hear me?”  

“Don’t go…” Keith begs, eyes flicking around the room.  “Don’t… Shiro, don’t leave me…”

“I’m not going to leave you.”  Shiro tells him.  “I’ll never leave you, I promise.”

“You did!”  Keith screams, and that cuts deeper than the knife clutched in his hand ever could.  “You--!  You left me… you…”

“I know,” Shiro’s voice comes out raw with emotion.  “I know, and I’m so, so sorry, Keith.  I’ll never leave you again.  I’m right here, baby.  I’ll stay right here.”  

Keith tugs weakly against his hand, the knife flashing in the dim light.  He whimpers, a low, animal-like sound.  “Don’t go…”

“I won’t.”  Shiro promises.  “I’m here, Keith, I’m here.  Can you open your hand for me?  I want to hold your hand.  Just open your hand, okay?”

Keith doesn’t move for several long minutes, then his fingers loosen around the hilt of the knife and it falls to the bed between them, the point sticking in the mattress.  Shiro swiftly picks it up and leans over the edge of the bed to place it on the floor below, safely out of the way.  “Thank you, Keith, that was good.  That was so good, baby, I’m proud of you.”  He sits back up, shifting his grip on Keith’s wrist to thread their fingers together instead.  “Can I touch you?”  

“Shiro?”  Keith’s eyes dart around as he tenses once more.  “Shiro!”

“I’m here, I’m right here.”  Shiro tells him, squeezing his hand.  “I’m going to touch you, okay?  I’m going to touch your arm.  This is me, I’m Shiro.  I’m about to touch you on the arm, okay?  Right now, this is me.”  He lays a hand on Keith’s bicep, and Keith still jumps even with all the warnings.  “I’m right here, Keith, I’ve got you,” Shiro murmurs.  

“Shiro…” Keith’s voice shakes, and it breaks Shiro’s heart to see him like this.  

“You’re sitting up right now.”  He tells him, unsure how much Keith is aware of what is going on.  What Keith could see might be entirely different from reality.  “Do you want to lay down again?”

Keith says nothing for several long moments.  He doesn’t seem to be able to hear Shiro.  His eyes flick around the room, focusing on sights Shiro can’t see.  “Don’t leave me… please…”

“I won’t.”  Shiro squeezes his hand.  “I won’t leave, Keith, I promise.”  He pauses, uncertain if this will do more harm than good, then decides to give it a try.  “Can I hold you, Keith?”  

Keith’s eyes fix on something over his shoulder and he looks panicked.  “Shiro!  Wait!”  His hand lifts, reaching out, and Shiro is on him in an instant.  He gathers Keith into his arms and holds him tightly, speaking in a low, soothing tone in his ear and hoping his voice, if not his words, can get through.

“I’m here, Keith.  It’s me, it’s Shiro.  I’ve got you, and I’ll never leave you, okay?”  Shiro rubs his back as Keith’s fingers tighten in the cotton fabric of his shirt.  “Let’s lay down again, alright?  We’ll lay down again, and maybe you can get back to deep sleep.”  He knows, from looking into it when he started experiencing it himself, that night terrors and and nightmares occur at different stages of sleep.  He can’t wake Keith up from this one, now; all he can do is comfort him and hope he falls back into deep sleep, where he can either be woken up from the nightmare at worst or the dream will fade on its own at best.  Carefully, keeping his movements slow and steady and telling Keith everything he is doing in case he can understand him, he lays them down and hugs him tightly.  Keith lets out a low whine and presses closer, pushing his face into Shiro’s chest.  Shiro notices he is still holding the empty sheath of his blade clutched tight in his left hand, knuckles white around the metal.  Shiro snakes a hand in between them.  “Can we put this down?  I don’t want you to hurt yourself in your sleep…” he murmurs, fingers closing around the tip to tug it away.

“No!”  Keith shouts, grip tightening on the sheath.  “No!  I can’t… please!”  

“Okay,” Shiro relents immediately.  He supposes there isn’t much harm in Keith holding an empty sheath while he sleeps.  It was the blade itself Shiro was worried about, and that is now safely on the floor beside the bed.  

“You can’t take it… it’s  _ mine _ …” Keith growls.  

“I know, I know.”  Shiro doesn’t know if he can understand him, or even hear him.  

“Dad…” Keith whispers, features twisted in anguish.  “Where… Galra… How…”  The words make little sense to Shiro.  He hadn’t pressed Keith to tell him what he saw in the mindscape during the Trials of Marmora, but he had the sense it had something to do with his father.  Shiro had never heard him speak of his father before; he knew little about Keith’s past before he had met him at the Garrison.  Thanks to the Trials, Shiro (and more importantly, Keith himself) knew he had Galra heritage, but the revelation had been news to both of them.  

Keith’s broken sentences and fragments of words are soon reduced to sobs, and it is all Shiro can do to hold him and murmur reassurances he isn’t sure Keith can even hear.  Keith flinches, and a low growl fills the air, coming from deep within the castle.  The Red Lion.  Tucking Keith’s head under his chin, Shiro reaches out with his mind.   _ He’s okay, he’s safe.  The danger isn’t real.  Please, let me handle it.  I’ll keep him safe…  _ He doesn’t want the Red Lion tearing apart the castle searching for Keith like it had tried to do at the Blade of Marmora’s base; he can’t imagine Allura would be pleased with the destruction that would bring.  

He can feel another presence, one much more familiar to him.  The Black Lion, smooth and cool like obsidian, reaches out with a gentle rumble, soothing the fiery anger of the Red Lion.  The message to Shiro is clear; she will take care of the Red Lion, just as Shiro takes care of her paladin.  The growl quiets, the presences retreat from his mind, and Shiro drops a soft kiss onto the top of Keith’s head.  He keeps speaking softly, reassuring him over and over again in low, soothing tones and rubbing his back.  He talks himself into circles, again and again, but that’s okay; the repetition helps, like uttering a mantra or thumbing over prayer beads.  

Eventually, at long last, Keith seems to be calming down again.  Shiro can feel that his heart rate has gone down again, his screams have subsided, and his grip on the knife sheath has loosened, though Shiro does not dare take it from him.  After he is certain Keith has fallen asleep again, Shiro uses his foot to grab the blanket from where it has been shoved to the foot of the bed, figuring the chances of Keith getting tangled up in it again have gone down.  He pulls it over his boyfriend and carefully tucks it around him, pausing to brush his hair back from his sweat-sticky forehead.  Arms still safely around Keith, Shiro closes his eyes, but he sleeps little for the rest of the night. 

~~~~~

Keith wakes the next morning with a low groan, the sound rousing Shiro from the light doze he had fallen into.  

“Mornin’,” Keith mumbles, pressing closer.  

“How are you feeling?”  Shiro asks, fingers coming up to card through his hair.  

“Fine.”  Keith yawns, then looks down at the knife sheath still clutched in his hand.  Confusion pinching his brow, he lifts the pillow and peers underneath, searching for the blade.  “Where…?”

“It’s on the floor.”  Shiro tells him.

“...Okay?”  Keith looks puzzled.

“Do you remember anything from last night?”  Shiro asks.  

Keith frowns in thought.  “Not really.  Did something happen?”

“You had a night terror.”  Shiro tells him.  There isn’t much point in sugar-coating it.  They are both familiar with this conversation, although it usually goes the other way around.  

“Ah.”  Keith doesn’t look surprised.  Suddenly his eyes widen.  “Wait, did I pull my knife on you?”

Well, Shiro doesn’t want to cause him any more worry than he already had to deal with, but… “It’s okay.  I know it wasn’t me you were seeing.”  

Keith rubs his hand over his face, groaning.  “Shit… I’m so sorry.  I probably shouldn’t have slept with my knife under my pillow.”  

“It’s never been a problem before.”  Shiro reassures him.  “It’s okay.  You had… a long day, yesterday.”

“That’s putting it lightly.”  Keith grouses.  “I figured something like this might happen.”  He sighs.  

“I’m sorry you had to go through that.”  Shiro hugs him.  He knows first-hand how night terrors can be; he had had them nearly every night after escaping the Galra.  

“I’m sorry you had to deal with me.”  Keith says quietly.  “I know that isn’t easy.”  He, too, is thinking of the first few weeks of nights after he and Shiro had been reunited, waking up several times a week to Shiro screaming and thrashing at dangers Keith couldn’t see and couldn’t begin to imagine. 

Shiro shakes his head, enveloping him in a tight embrace like he can chase the nightmares away.  “I don’t mind it.  Really.  I mean, it was hard to see you in such distress, and I felt so helpless.  But I’m glad I was able to return the favor, after you were there for me so many nights.  I just wish you could feel safe when you sleep.”

“I am safe.”  Keith nudges Shiro’s collarbone with his nose.  “I have you taking care of me.”

Shiro smiles softly and presses a kiss to Keith’s forehead.  “And I’ll always be there.”

“And I’m always here for you, too.”  Keith scoots up to press their foreheads together, noses touching.  His breath ghosts over the small space between their lips.  “Just the two of us, holding each other and hurtling through the stars.”

Shiro chuckles softly.  “Maybe that’s all we need.”

**Author's Note:**

> Almost Valentine's Day? Here, have some dark chocolate. In other words, this is kinda sad and then it turned out bittersweet. 
> 
> Thank you for reading! Please let me know if you enjoyed it! I have a [ tumblr](http://gold-leeaf.tumblr.com/), if you want to see me scream about voltron and some other things, or shoot me a request.


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